Garden of Lamentations

A Novel

On a beautiful morning in mid-May, the body of a young woman is found in one of Notting Hill's private gardens. To passersby the pretty girl in the white dress looks as if she's sleeping. But Reagan Keating has been murdered, and the lead detective, DI Kerry Boatman, turns to Gemma James for help. She and Gemma worked together on a previous investigation, and Gemma has a personal connection to the case: Reagan was the nanny of a child who attends the same dance studio as Toby, Gemma's son. Gemma soon discovers that Reagan's death is the second tragedy in this exclusive London park; a few months before, a young boy died in a tragic accident. But when still another of the garden residents meets a violent end, it becomes clear that there are more sinister forces at play. Boatman and Gemma must stop the killer before another innocent life is taken.

Comment

I really enjoy this series, though I wish I could recall the previous books more clearly. Much of this book depends on events from the previous books. If you have not read the previous books, start at the beginning of this series and enjoy!

Author Deborah Crombie, an American, has created a mix of the British police procedural, appealing central characters (Duncan and Gemma, now husband and wife), and always interesting settings. Glastonbury Tor (ancient abbey); the world of Olympic-level rowing; and London auction houses have all been featured in various titles. Readers new to the series definitely would do well to start with first in series, A Share in Death.

Not a stand-alone novel. A new character, or two or three, is introduced every few pages (not to mention just the use of their first names, last names, or titles), and the names of all the places they go in London, as well as chapters skipping back and forth to the doings of some specific characters. Then there is the past doings of these same characters alluded to (you guess, from previous books in the series). And as someone else pointed out, every time the doorbell rings, there is a choice of red wine, white wine, or tea. This, of course, leads to utter confusion and total frustration as the character count builds, as well as their choice of beverage, into the dozens...or it could be even hundreds. And then you admit to yourself that nothing much has happened in the first 150 pages anyway, so is it worth it to be tortured all the way to page 571? Whereupon, you conclude that the book is unintelligible, unreadable, a waste of time, and just give up.